Town Supervisor Brian Foley hopes a Community Preservation Fund will preserve at least 5,000 acres.

The Town of Brookhaven is moving forward with plans to create a Community Preservation Fund to stave off development and maintain open space in Suffolk County's largest town.

Town Supervisor Brian Foley hopes that the Community Preservation Fund will allow Brookhaven to preserve at least 5,000 acres by the year 2025. The town board unanimously approved a draft environmental impact statement on the fund in early July, and public hearing on the fund was to be held July 31, before the Town Board motions to place the initiative on the November ballot.

The Community Preservation Fund would be supported by a 2 percent transfer fee paid by the buyer each time real estate is conveyed, beginning in 2008. Developed properties priced up to $250,000 are not charged a fee, nor are purchases of vacant land valued up to $150,000. “This is an historic proposal that will provide the next generation of funding for open space purchases, purchases that will insure that we maintain the quality of life we enjoy and expect in the Town of Brookhaven,” Foley said.

Over the past decade, four other Suffolk towns passed Community Preservation Funds to fight sprawl – Riverhead, Southold, South Fork and Shelter Island, which have collectively preserved thousands of acres through their respective funds.

In 2003, Brookhaven tried to follow the example set by those towns and establish its own fund. However, the Long Island Builders Institute successfully lobbied to block the initiative, because it did not give incentives to build more densely.

This time around, the proposed fund has enjoyed widespread support from local environmental groups, newspaper editorial boards and residents, as well as the Builders Institute. That’s because 25 percent of the development rights from parcels preserved in Brookhaven will be "banked" and later sold to developers seeking increased density on projects elsewhere in town. In addition, qualified first-time homebuyers would be exempt from the tax.

Brookhaven has more than 20,000 acres of vacant land remaining, much of which is likely to be developed unless acquired. With the Community Preservation Fund, the goal is to preserve 5,000 to 10,000 acres of those 20,000 acres. The fund would provide about $30 million per year over 18 years.

Newsletter Issue

• Ecopolitics Monthly --- August 2007